AI names Basil Kwauk as chief operations officer

In an important management change at Air India, the airline announced that an old-hand from Singapore Airlines Basil Kwauk will replace Klaus Goersch as the chief operations officer.

In an internal announcement, Air India’s MD & CEO Campbell Wilson informed that Mr. Goersch would be leaving Air India at the end of December “to take up a senior role closer to his family in the United States”.

Mr. Kwauk has 25 years of experience at Singapore Airlines. He was sent to Vistara on secondment where he was senior vice-president flight operations from 2017 and 2021 before he returned to Singapore from New Delhi. A mechanical engineer from the National University of Singapore, he has flown a multitude of aircraft ranging from A319s to A340s and Boeing 787s, 777s and 747s.

The development follows the merger of Vistara, which Singapore Airlines co-owned with Tata Sons, with Air India. Singapore Airlines now has 25.1% control in the Air India Group.

Mr. Kwauk is credited with steering Vistara operations through the pandemic. During his tenure, the airline also acquired nine Boeing 787-9s from the erstwhile Jet Airways, as well as recruited requisite crew for flight operations when Vistara had an all-Airbus fleet with only 22 planes. The airline also inducted Boeing 787 Dreamliners into the fleet from 2020 onwards, and started its foray into international destinations under his watch.

Industry watchers said that his appointment was a signal of Air India ensuring that some of the best practices that Vistara came to be known for were also brought into the merged entity, apart from Singapore Airlines getting a share of the pie in the management of the airline.